The Wet Market
According to Ministry of Science and Technology Director-General Wu Yuanbin, the coronavirus was probably linked to wild animal consumption — “mostly likely” bats. This theory has the virus originating in bats and passed on to an intermediate host at the Huanan Seafood Market (Huanan means South China), a “wet market” on Xinhua Road in Wuhan’s central Hankou district.
A wet market is a complex of independent vendor stalls separated by narrow and slippery aisles where such items as meat, poultry, seafood, fruits and vegetables are primarily sold. They resemble American farmers’ markets, except for the din of Chinese vendors hawking their wares and customers haggling loudly. And instead of potatoes they sell noodles. Oh, and there are also many captured wild animals, raising the noise level to what legendary sports broadcaster Howard Cosell would have termed a “cacophony of cockamamie claptrap.”
The term “wet market” was coined by the Singapore government in the 1970s to distinguish these traditional markets from supermarkets, mainly selling “dry goods.” Many wet markets also offer commonly consumed live animals, like chickens, which are slaughtered by vendors once sold. As noted, some sell wildlife, running the risk of spreading zoonotic diseases.
Zoonotic – Pertaining to a zoonosis: a disease that can be transmitted from animals to people or, more specifically, a disease that normally exists in animals but that can infect humans. There are multitudes of zoonotic diseases, such as Lyme disease and rabies. (MedicineNet)
Was the Huanan Seafood Market at the epicenter of this pandemic by purportedly selling live bats? That’s a question for the ages. As its name implies, the Huanan Seafood Market specialized in fish, shrimp and other seafood. However, the market also sold live wild animals, a practice banned shortly after the 2003 SARS epidemic. That ban was eventually lifted before being quickly reinstated in 2020.
Due to the large variety of wildlife sold at the Huanan Seafood Market, it had acquired quite a reputation and was often called the “zoo.” A price list circulating online for a former business at Huanan Seafood Market shows why. According to Agence France-Presse, a vendor named “Wild Game Animal Husbandry for the Masses” offered 112 animals or animal-based products, including live foxes, crocodiles, wolf puppies, giant salamanders, snakes, rats, peacocks, porcupines, camel meat and other game. “Freshly slaughtered, frozen and delivered to your door,” the price list advertised.
The bat-eating theory remained viable until Feb. 3, 2020, when a Nature article appeared online, which reported that no bats were sold at the Huanan Seafood Market (emphasis added):
Notably, in addition to fish and shellfish, a variety of live wild animals, including hedgehogs, badgers, snakes and birds (turtledoves), were available for sale in the market before the outbreak began, as well as animal carcasses and animal meat. No bats were available for sale. (Nature– Wu et al. 03-Feb-20)
The study was lead-authored by Wu Fan (Chinese name order: last name followed by first) and also featured the Australian Edward Holmes, a person-of-interest, who you will meet soon again. Of course, just because “no bats were available for sale” at the market does not rule out the possibility that a bat-infected intermediate host was sold there, which caused the disease to spread to Wuhan residents. Or that someone couldn’t just “phone in” a bat order and pick it up at a stall. The first hypothesis is likely to fail because the most likely bat suspects that may have sunk their fangs into an intermediate host live in caves in Yunnan or Zhejiang Province, which are more than 900 kilometers (560 miles) away from the seafood market. The second theory requires additional insight from locals, who, by and large, report that no bats were eaten in Wuhan.
But what if there was another explanation for how the novel coronavirus emerged? What if pursuing other leads could end up suggesting a totally different probable cause? Would that change your perspective on the events leading up to the SARS-CoV-2 breakout? Another possible scenario involves the Wuchang and Jiangxia districts on the Yangtze River’s other side. That other-side-of-the-river narrative is supported by a host of anecdotal evidence and goes something like this.
